Museum Reserves

In 2009, the Musée maritime du Québec retrofitted its museum reserves. Today, the main building has four floors:

The first floor houses a museum reserve, the reception area, a café, gift shop and a landing dock. There is also the Boathouse, typical of maritime museums worldwide, attached to the main building (interpretation area for traditional watercraft).

The second floor features a mezzanine for cultural events and talks, a play area for children, a room dedicated solely to the memory of Captain J.E. Bernier and a 215 m2 exhibition hall that houses the permanent Sea Roots exhibition and flagship items of the Museum’s collections.

The third floor features another exhibition hall for temporary exhibitions and events.

On the fourth floor, the huge collection of 200 scale-model ships in the ship reserve is accessible to the public during guided tours. The models are not on display to showcase their beauty, but to facilitate their protection and handling by the conservation team.

Climate control is prevalent in each vault to ensure that items stored (based on their construction) are maintained under optimal conservation conditions. In the event of a power outage, a generator provides the power needed for all the reserves to maintain requisite environmental conditions.